Race for NFC West: Seahawks alone in the lead, but for how long?

Dec 1, 2024, 5:19 PM | Updated: 8:38 pm

Devon Witherspoon of the Seattle Seahawks reacts after a Dec. 1, 2024 win over the Jets. (Elsa/Getty Images)

(Elsa/Getty Images)

Editor, Seattle Sports

The soap opera that is this year’s NFC West just keeps getting better, especially if you’re a Seattle Seahawks fan.

For the third time this season and first time in a month, the Seattle Seahawks are alone atop the division after their 26-21 win on the road Sunday over the New York Jets.

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At 7-5, Seattle now holds a one-game advantage in the NFC West over the Los Angeles Rams and Arizona Cardinals, who are both 6-6. And the Seahawks only gained ground on the defending division and conference champion San Francisco 49ers, who dropped to 5-7 with a 35-10 loss to the Bills in snowy Buffalo on Sunday night.

While the Seahawks were mounting a comeback in the fourth quarter at MetLife Stadium on Sunday, there was good news for Seattle happening elsewhere. The Cardinals, who came into the day tied for the NFC West lead at 6-5, gave up a late touchdown to the Minnesota Vikings and lost 23-22 on the road to fall back to .500. So Seattle won on a late score while the Cards lost on one, and now the Seahawks are alone in first. That’s gotta sting for the fans in Arizona.

The Rams, meanwhile, were 5-6 coming into Week 13 and pulled themselves back into a tie for second place with a 21-14 win over the Saints in New Orleans.

It’s been quite the sequence of events ever since Seattle jumped out to an initial lead in the division.

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The Seahawks began the year with a three-game win streak. Then they lost three straight, and five of six. But now they’ve won three in a row again, putting them back where they started – one game ahead of the competition for first place.

Know how many teams have held the NFC West lead through all of that? Almost all of them.

After Seattle lost in Week 6 to San Francisco, the Seahawks and 49ers were tied for first at 3-3. Two weeks later, the Cardinals joined them in a three-way deadlock at 4-4. That was followed by a three-week stint for Arizona alone in the lead, only for the Seahawks to move back into a tie last week by knocking off the Cardinals in Seattle.

See the full NFL standings

Meanwhile, if there’s any team for the Seahawks to be concerned about, it’s probably the one that hasn’t had any time in first place this year. The Rams were banged up early in the season but have now won five of their last seven, including a 26-20 overtime win over the Hawks on Nov. 3.

That’s not to write off the Cardinals, though, who Seattle picked up a narrow 20-17 win over last week at home. The Seahawks have to travel to Arizona next Sunday to play the Cards for a second time in a three-game stretch.

The 49ers, however, are in rough shape. They’ve now lost three straight and are littered with injuries to key players, including quarterback Brock Purdy (shoulder), running back Christian McCaffrey (a knee issue suffered Sunday), defensive end Nick Bosa (hip/oblique) and left tackle Trent Williams (ankle). And that’s with both wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk and safety Talanoa Hufanga already on injured reserve.

Even with the Seahawks back alone in first place for now, don’t think for a second it’s going to be any sort of a cakewalk from here on out. After the Cardinals next week, Seattle’s remaining schedule in order will be Green Bay (9-3), Minnesota (10-2), at Chicago (4-8), and a regular season finale at the Rams.

Point being, this soap opera’s got a few more twists and turns to go before reaching a potentially messy conclusion.